The present invention relates to a combined flow gauge and ionizer for use with dessicator boxes and the like, for the manufacture of integrated circuit devices.
During the manufacture of integrated circuit devices, certain portions of the circuitry which has been deposited on an insulating chip, such as of silicone, are connected to contact elements known as "dual inline plugs", which has connectors which enable the integrated circuit chip to be connected to a circuit board. The process involves bonding gold wire between portions of the integrated circuit and the dual inline plug. The dual inline plug is covered and then sealed, but prior to these steps, there must be a purge of the integrated circuit chips to remove any contamination, including moisture. This purging is effected by placing the integrated circuit chips in a container which is then flooded with nitrogen gas.
Considering that a contaminant may be any extraneous matter which has a harmful effect upon the end product, not only are the presence of moisture and particles of material contaminants of the integrated circuit chips, but also static electricity may be so designated, for the reason that static electricity is known to damage the end product, to the extent that it will not pass the require tests.
During the processing of the integrated circuit chips, which may include C/MOS, MOS/FET and other devices, it is the present practice to load the integrated circuit chips onto trays, which are then slid into boxes of transparent plastic material, after which nitrogen gas in introduced into the boxes, so as to flood or immerse the devices in the nitrogen to thereby eliminate any unwanted moisture. Since static electricity is a problem in connection with the manufacture of these integrated circuit chips, in some instances, some precaution has been taken through the utilization of an ionizing nozzle, to introduce ions, which would engage the trays, boxes and integrated circuit chips, and neutralize static electricity. A known practice was to mount the flow gauge so its main passage would be vertical, connect the discharge of the flow to an ion generator, and connect the ion generator to the dessicator box. The utilization of such organizations has been found to be cumbersome in organization and utilization.